Couple of thoughts:
- Congrats to HC Pollard and the team on an outstanding season, especially from where they started. Pollard's ability to win regionals is really impressive given that we have never hosted a regional.
- That being said, massive missed opportunity to finally get to Omaha. For a program like Duke, you worry how many chances you'll get quite like the chance we had in the Super Regional this season.
- Pollard has done an outstanding job at Duke, truly remarkable. There is a case to be made that pound for pound he has been the "best" coach at Duke over the past decade. Nina needs to call on any resources available to keep him in Durham.
- I would hope that Pollard uses the leverage he has to demand even more financial support for the program. It is important for any program to use leverage points like this to get more resources to sustain and build on success. Baseball will get what they get from the House salary pool, so that means more scholarship money and more NIL support (and yes I believe this Deloitte clearinghouse is nonsense and has a near zero chance of surviving court challenges if they try to restrict NIL deals in a meaningful way.)
- As a non-local fan, the new Jack looks amazing on TV. The setting for baseball is outstanding. I imagine post-renovation it will be a special, intimate college baseball facility. The last Duke Baseball game I attended was at the DBAP. I never liked that setting for Duke. It was like University of Miami football playing at Sun Life, or Pitt football playing at Heinz Field. Invariably you get a sterile college environment. Love that they are dedicated to Jack Coombs going forward.
Go Duke!